Resumo de Life Out Of Bounds

Chris Bright: Life Out of Bounds. Norton & Co., New York, 1998.Living organisms as pests in natural environments? Plant
species taking over houses and whole forests? Animal species
destroying vast stretches of pristine nature? Fungi killing not only a
few trees but extirpating a whole forest? This is exactly what this
enthusiastically written book deals with. It describes the ?number
one environmental problem? of modern times: the spread of non-
native, exotic plants, animals, microbes, and pathogens around
the world as a result of human activities. Globalization of trade,
destroying natural habitats, and an ever increasing number of
species moved around the world lead to what scientists call
biological invasions. The chestnut blight for example, a fungus
introduced on apparently healthy chestnut seedlings from Asia,
attacked the American chestnut and almost extirpated this tree
from eastern North America. Many more examples are cited in the
book, and Bright describes the reasons for biological invasions
and gives an overview of their impacts. Bright, from the
Worldwatch Institute, is an excellent writer who is most familiar with
the problem of biological invasions. The book?s nine chapters
cover the geography of invasion, the culture of invasion, and how
to mitigate biological invasions. The book does not only describe
the current problems of exotic species, it goes back in history and
explains how it came all about. It looks into the future and explains
what should be done to prevent further damage by exotic species.
Reading the book gives an impression on the extent with which we
alter the natural distribution patterns of many species and how
natural ecosystems slowly but steadily get degraded due to
biological invasions. Exotic species spreading in natural habitats
are ? in contrast to environmental pollution ? living organisms that
grow and grow, and take over even if only some few individuals
were brought into the habitats. That is why biological invasions are
dangerous: once they started, they are difficult to halt.
The
book provides excellent reading for anybody interested in nature,
environmental conservation, and for anybody who cares about
preserving biodiversity.

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